Abstract:

Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses play an important role in caring for extremely low birth
weight infants (ELBW) and these patients are at a much greater risk of abnormal development. The NICU
is unique in that the infant’s parents are their primary advocates, but they lack the medical background to
comprehend their child’s condition. Parents also experience high anxiety and stress; consequently, aspects
of decision-making may be overlooked due to inadequate amounts of information. NICU nurses must
provide accurate and consistent information and emotional support to ELBW infant parents to help with
decision-making. The purpose of this study is to describe NICU nurses’ experiences in aiding parents in
decision-making regarding their ELBW infant and to identify if a visual aid would be useful during this
difficult process. This research is based on 2 of 3 components of the Ottawa Decision Support Framework
(ODSF): the evaluation of the needs of the healthcare team necessary for decision making and the
evaluation of the healthcare team when providing individualized aid to parents. Using a qualitative
descriptive design, five English-speaking nurses with at least one year of experience in the NICU were
interviewed. The nurses ranged from 28-55 years of age and had a bachelor’s or master’s degree in
nursing. Prior to the semi-structured interview, consent to participate was acknowledged and eligibility
and demographic forms were completed. All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed, and they
were qualitatively analyzed. Findings will be used to evaluate nurses’ experiences, including how
prepared they felt in providing information and support to parents, and to determine whether visual aids
were used or would be useful to help nurses’ communication and parents’ decision-making.